MotoGP – The United States Grand Prix turn-based –

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The United States Grand Prix turn-based

MotoGP - The United States Grand Prix turn-based -

First twist of this American round: Dani Pedrosa will not compete in the race following his injuries contracted in Germany. Annoyed, will the Spaniard have to give up his second place overall to the intractable Casey Stoner ? Round by round !

Seven races in ten weeks: such is the infernal program concocted by the organizers of the Moto Grands Prix this season! A real marathon whose start was given in mid-May in France and which ends this weekend after the race across the Atlantic.

This real epic through France, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and finally the United States played a role of justice of the peace in a season that was already lacking yet no spice: in turn Lorenzo, Capirossi, Hopkins and now Pedrosa have known the pangs of physical suffering, unfortunately incompatible with the fight at the highest level of motorcycle sport…

From this "game" of musical chairs, who are the drivers who have managed to pass between the drops to appear at the top of the ranking on the eve of the summer break? Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi, of course! While the first sign a breathtaking rise in the general standings with great blows of pole positions, lap records and clear and flawless victories, the second manages his place of leader in the championship, without however managing to slow down the frantic pace of the champion in title…

"How to stop Stoner? Going down !Rossi even joked, when asked by a Spanish TV channel about how he expected to beat the Ducati rider in the race on Sunday. !

If the prodigy of Tavullia has just re-signed for two more years at Yamaha and continues to address his eternal teenage smile in front of the cameras, his extreme concentration in the boxes and the admirable – but vain – relentlessness he has deployed from the first free practice to the final qualifying session of this United States Grand Prix reveal a turning point in this incredible season: the infernal magical trio Stoner / Bridgestone / Ducati is back and the whole is even faster than in 2007 !

And the champion does not hide it: if nothing comes to stop this well-oiled mechanism, Stoner thinks he will be able to win all the races to come! The arrival of Tom Cruise and his wife in his box would it have given the big head to the Australian ?! Maybe not that much! Because from the first free sessions on Friday, Casey and his Ducati on race tires smashed the track record by nearly three tenths! An unlikely scenario, so much the stranglehold of the n ° 1 last year on this same route had disgusted most of its competitors…

Sticking eight tenths to the local Nicky Hayden, Stoner seems like untouchable: emerging from his box like a rabid bull as soon as the pit lane opens, the "red ball" travels half the circuit to warm up his tires and slams a stopwatch as soon as the pit lane opens. his second lap !

"Stoner goes into the corners like he doesn’t want to come out !", recently confided with admiration Sylvain Guintoli who, classified 14th at the end of the first day, ahead of riders like Pedrosa, Toseland, De Puniet, the wild card Kawasaki James Hacking and Anthony West.

Valentino Rossi completes the provisional first row ahead of Alex de Angelis, Chris Vermeulen, Shinya Nakano and Colin Edwards, who suffers from neck pain.

The American shares with his compatriots Ben Spies, James Hacking and especially Nicky Hayden the sad certainty that this Sunday, the American anthem should not sound … which would make 35 GP without an American driver succeeding in imposing.

However, the "Kentucky Kid" fights throughout the qualifying session: ignoring the Michelin once again dominated in the States, the n ° 69 pulls all he can from his RCV with pneumatic valve return to finally fail the third place on the grid … but 0.730 seconds from the time of the "UFO" Stoner: 1’20.700, more than a second and two tenths faster than his pole in 2007 !

Zoom on…

Valentino rossi, which extends with Yamaha for two additional seasons: "after so many years in the motorcycle, I needed a special motivation to extend two years with Yamaha. I had other proposals, but the trust and loyalty of the team, as well as the brand’s efforts to provide me with the best bike and the best possible environment, convinced me to stick with them.", explains the seven-time world champion of 29 years.

Thwarting all the attempts of his opponents to get closer to his pace, Stoner outclasses Rossi by 0.447 seconds and Lorenzo – fourth – already appears by almost a second! James Toseland signs an honorable fifth place on a circuit he has already covered in WSBK, ahead of by a short header Randy de Puniet.

Colin Edwards is in seventh position ahead of Chris Vermeulen, Andrea Dovizioso, Toni Elias (author of his best qualifying), Loris Capirossi, Shinya Nakano (victim of a heavy fall at the end of the session), Ben Spies (who will compete in the MotoGP race just before getting on his GSX-R to compete in the only round of AMA Superbike on the same circuit!) and Sylvain Guintoli.

Note the high-speed fall of Alex de Angelis, who pulverizes his motorcycle and gets up with a broken thumb: "unfortunately I fell while testing the racing tire. I tried to walk away, but the pain in my left thumb was too bad", regrets the driver who will start from 16th place on the grid.

The race !

Departure : The pressure is at its height on the starting line: Rossi’s mechanics come to encourage him with friendly slaps on the shoulder, while he appears concentrated and determined: the smile is a little constrained on the side of the staff with three tuning forks, who hardly believes that "Vale" can give the answer to Stoner today…

As soon as the lights went out, Casey Stoner emerged from his first place and slipped into the first left with a few steps ahead of Nicky Hayden, Valentino Rossi, James Toseland and Jorge Lorenzo.

Badly started, Randy de Puniet and Sylvain Guintoli appear in the second part of the peloton, while the original decoration unveiled on the starting line by Colin Edwards does not seem to know him successful: the American has lost a lot of places at the start.

Unusual because of the fact, Valentino Rossi shows rare aggressiveness from the start of the race and achieves an unstoppable interior on Nicky Hayden: forcing admiration, the Doctor seems determined to follow the pace of the Ducati rider, and why not pass it to prevent him from aligning his record times !

Just behind Hayden, Andrea Dovizioso sees Jorge Lorenzo trying to pass him inside a fast left, but the Mallorcan puts too much strain on the rear tire not yet warm and flies off – once again – into the gravel pit. … N ° 48 immediately holds his left ankle: the third and fifth metatarsals of his foot are fractured.

"I am very disappointed today because I was very confident for the race after qualifying yesterday", confides the young pilot."In addition, I was in fourth position and I felt particularly good. Then I fell … My tire was not up to temperature, I lost the rear and then the only thing I remember is that I was in the gravel with pain in my foot"…

This big fall will not facilitate the return to confidence for the double 250 world champion, who undoubtedly put too much pressure at the start of the season when everything was smiling on him: after all, for his first year in 500 2- T, hasn’t his illustrious teammate also experienced a learning phase, made of falls and setbacks? ?

A little further ahead, Valentino Rossi makes speak all this experience acquired in nine seasons of premier class: he surprises Stoner at the entrance of the famous Cork Screw! Thwarting all the predictions which gave him beaten and dominated during 32 laps, the n ° 46 draws on his mastery and his pride to try to thwart as much as possible the "American dream" of his rival !

The two preceding men Hayden, Dovizioso, Vermeulen, Toseland, Elias, De Puniet and the wild card Ben Spies. Sylvain Guintoli appears at the bottom of the standings, victim of a straight ahead in the first corner: "I got off to a good start, but at the first corner I hit an opponent’s rear wheel. I got off the track and lost a lot of ground. I tried hard to come back up, but I couldn’t find the pace I had in practice", regrets the Drôme pilot.

2nd round : Valentino Rossi completed the first lap in the lead, which had not happened to him for a while! But in his wake, Casey Stoner bides his time to unleash an attack and imprint his mind-boggling pace up to the checkered flag! Randy de Puniet and Toni Elias have passed James Toseland in turn: the Spanish rider seems to have rediscovered the colors on the handlebars of his Ducati and is returning to the level that is normally his:

"We have been competitive throughout the three days and it is very encouraging", rejoices n ° 24."In fact, since we picked up the latest developments from Ducati, we are much more efficient in the dry and we have managed to regularly enter the top 10".

Wrestling at the back of the standings, Alex de Angelis is 15th ahead of the other wild card James Hacking and the unfortunate Sylvain Guintoli.

3rd round : Demonstrating that the lion is not dead and that his Bridgestone bet was not just a whim, Valentino Rossi continues to keep the hot Casey Stoner going at the cost of a high pace, but also superb protective trajectories: the Italian enters the curve in the middle of the track and comes out as quickly as his rival, who takes advantage of the ten meters wide of the Californian track to take care of his trajectories !

Truly above the rest, the two Bridgestone riders are already more than a second and a half ahead of Hayden and Dovizioso in Michelin: as in 2007, the tire factor is in full play on the 3,675 m of the US route and the company Auvergne can prepare to suffer in terms of time…

4th round : Coming from the last straight in the nozzles of the official Yamaha, Casey Stoner overwhelms Rossi in the straight line of 966 m and registers his Ducati in first position in the first left of the circuit! At the same time, Chris Vermeulen expressed his affection for the atypical American circuit and in turn overtook Andrea Dovizioso. Determined not to let the Australian go, the Doctor treats his opponent under braking from a left downhill and takes over the leadership of the event: surprised by this opposition which he certainly did not expect, the world champion did not close the door enough and n ° 46 took advantage !

However, the combative pilot immediately retorts on the climb leading to the Cork Screw and manly overflows Rossi from the outside: but the Doctor does not abdicate and dives under Stoner’s wheels in this steep slope! Badly placed to approach the change of angle, the Italian misses and goes slightly in the sand beyond the vibrator! Not wanting to give in, the Yamaha rider does not even cut the throttle and manages to get out of this almost desperate situation by keeping the lead of the race! Incredulous, Stoner must indeed withdraw generously following the brutal return of Vale on the track! What a spectacle from the two pilots !

5th round : As if the race was all about a duel between them, Rossi and Stoner approach the straight line of the pits (which also has a continuous curvature to the left) side by side. And as on the previous lap, the n ° 1 takes advantage of the demonic acceleration and traction of his GP8 to pass his rival on the outside! Nicky Hayden follows at nearly 2.4 seconds (!) Somewhat coughing Chris Vermeulen whose Bridgestones seem to allow him a higher pace.

Brilliant 5th, Dovizioso is on the lookout for an error on the part of the two men, ahead of a second Toni Elias, James Toseland and Randy de Puniet who could not contain the assaults of the English. Nakano, Capirossi, Spies and Melandri are fighting for ninth place, which represents an excellent performance for the American as for the Hedgehog of Ravenna !

Continuing his vigorous standoff against the Australian, Valentino Rossi overtakes the Ducati thanks to very strong braking in a long left and manages to regain the lead of the race! Stoner tries to resist and switch his rival to re-acceleration, but a slight slip of his rear tire dissuades him. !

6th and 7th rounds : Wheels on wheels, Rossi and Stoner cross the line with 3.6 seconds ahead of Hayden, Vermeulen and Dovizioso: Rossi’s M1 also completed the fastest lap in the race in 1’22.046, which is already five tenths faster than the best lap in the race 2007 !

From the next loop, it was Casey Stoner’s turn to set the fastest lap, while Chris Vermeulen was more and more pressing on Nicky Hayden! The n ° 7 overflows the American under braking from the first left, but he manages to take better care of his exit from the turn, passes the Australian inside and recovers his second place! Dovizioso – who did not miss a beat – takes advantage of this fight to sneak inside the Suzuki in the following right! Annoyed to be passed while driving slightly faster than his opponents, the former Supersport world champion retorts immediately and passes the Honda n ° 4 to the right braking before the Cork Screw !

8th and 9th rounds : Casey Stoner tries to pass his rival on all sides but the guy resists, preventing the Australian from using the whole track to make his red powder speak! From now on, there is no longer any doubt about Rossi’s strategy: knowing full well that Stoner is faster on the lap, the Italian star intends to take advantage of his advantage under braking to pass the world champion and take away the slightest chance of his escape … If the technique is skillful, it remains to be seen how long Rossi and his M1 will manage to contain the assaults of their pursuer, without making a mistake and turning in diabolical lap times !

Because behind, the penalty is terrible: taking almost a second in the lap (!), Hayden, Vermeulen and Dovizioso already appear eight seconds behind the leaders! It’s another race in the race and as Ducati team manager Livio Suppo will recognize, "Casey and Valentino are clearly above the rest of the board and only Dani Pedrosa can claim to be part of this small group of insiders."… Certainly, but in the meantime, the withdrawal of the HRC driver may cost him dearly in the championship: that Stoner or Rossi wins, and Pedrosa loses his second place and many points in the general standings…

10th and 11th laps : The only riders to turn below 1’22 (i.e. in the lap times of Stoner’s record pole in 2007!), Vale and Casey dominate the American meeting head and shoulders, increasing lap after lap their lead over Hayden, Vermeulen and Dovizioso, themselves 2.5 seconds behind James Toseland and Randy de Puniet! English and French are explained for a second in front of Shinya Nakano, Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri, Colin Edwards, Toni Elias – who has seriously demoted -, the two guest pilots Ben Spies and James Hacking, Anthony West, Alex de Angelis and Sylvain Guintoli.

Brilliant 10th (given his start to the season), Marco Melandri will not transform his good start to the race: the Italian makes a mistake, gets out in the gravel without falling and manages to start again … penultimate! For his part, his teammate tries to pass Rossi to the left braking which controls the straight line of the pits: the Ducati swerves inside, his pilot crushes the brake lever, but nothing helps: the Yamaha rider brakes even later and retains its position !

12th and 13th rounds : Under the eyes of the big names in Hollywood like Tom Cruise or Jason Lee, who came to attend the show as "guest stars", Stoner and Rossi continue to do the show: using all the resources of his GP8 to try to pass the ‘Italian, the reigning champion punctuates his maneuvers with gliding from the back and happy "rodeos" out of curves !

Behind the two men, Chris Vermeulen finally got rid of the tenacious Nicky Hadeyn and in a few laps: the Australian at the Suzuki have already stuck two seconds to the American and Andrea Dovizioso who follows him closely! Randy de Puniet ironed James Toseland who is glued by a Shinya Nakano found.

The French rider of the LCR team now has the field free to try to bridge the 3.5-second gap between him and Dovizioso and Hayden: all the biker part of France is crossing their fingers so that the Parisian does not take no ill-considered risks during its ascent !

14th and 15th rounds : Taking advantage of the engine health of his Ducati, Casey Stoner once again overwhelms Valentino Rossi on the pit straight line, but the Australian gets carried away and enters too hard in the first left: forced to widen, the pilot sees his rival easily regain leadership while he tries to get back on the right track! Not only does the long-awaited duel between Rossi and Stoner reach its climax on American soil, but the Italian seems to have succeeded in putting enough pressure on the shoulders of the Australian "rock" to force him to make his first mistakes in the race since Jerez in start of season…

16th and 17th rounds : Again concentrated, the reigning world champion takes advantage of having the free field in front of him to sign ultra-fast lap times and quickly come back in contact with his rival! How does the Doc manage to contain the Australian, when he has just signed the track record of 1’21.488 (more than a second faster than the previous race record!)? It’s a mystery, but clearly, Rossi signs there one of his most beautiful battles, with will, with virtuosity, of those which propelled him to the rank of legendary pilots! And that Stoner participates in it says a lot about the talent of the man! Forget about the allegations on the tires: the two men are now on an equal footing and even if the red motorbike has better acceleration, the M1 led by Rossi gives it back its coin under braking !

In their anthological fight, the two pilots stuck nearly fourteen seconds to Vermeulen, which itself has three seconds of respite on Hayden and Dovizioso! Randy de Puniet came back three seconds from the Italian, a few cables ahead of Toseland, Nakano, Spies, Hacking, Elias, Edwards, Capirossi and Sylvain Guintoli who returned to the points.

Fighting firmly for the third step of the podium, Dovizioso and Hayden play more than a good final place: the first attracts the covetousness of the HRC who would see the talented and regular Italian replace their world champion who seems struggling to reproduce his 2006 performance.

However, it is rumored that the Scot Racing structure – integrated this year within the JIR team – could stand on its own in 2009, by doing – why not? – ride "Dovi" on a satellite RCV benefiting from all the developments of the official team … An interesting solution for the young vice world champion 250, so much we remember the first-rate performances of Sete Gibernau, then of Marco Melandri, when they had the same status within the Gresini team !

18th and 19th laps : Ben Spies, James Hacking and Toni Elias are fighting for ninth place and for the moment, it is the Suzuki rider who leads the dance … The American has also signed the pole position in AMA Superbike with his GSX-R in 1’23.8, just before getting on his MotoGP GSV-R: in addition to the young American’s motivation to ride twice in the same day on this tortuous circuit, it is interesting to note that the pole of the Protected by Kevin Schwantz is more than three seconds behind that achieved by Casey Stoner and his GP8, which nevertheless cube nearly 200cc less than the "Gex" entered in the American championship !

Continuing their duel at the top, Rossi and Stoner continue to set record times, despite the right side of the tire fairly marked on the M1: admittedly, the "anti-clockwise" direction of the track means that there are many more turns. left than right, but we can’t help but think about the problem encountered by n ° 46 on this same track with its Michelin, two seasons ago…

20th and 21st laps : Casey Stoner tries once again to overtake his rival in the pit straight, but Rossi remains in the middle of the track and brakes at the very last moment! Glued to his wheel, Stoner continues to put pressure on the Italian and while the Ducati reacts with its usual brutality to the requests of its rider, the Doctor’s Yamaha continues to lead the race without unwanted movements: the native of Tavullia seems to have rediscovered all his genius and flaunts an aggressiveness, a velocity and a mastery that recall those seasons when he threaded the titles like pearls…

Decidedly uncomfortable with his ZX RR, Anthony West is not only dominated by James Hacking who discovers the category, but goes into the gravel: "I understand that Kawasaki is thinking of replacing me", admits moreover with lucidity the sympathetic Australian…

22nd, 23rd and 24th laps : While Randy de Puniet continues to grab tenths after tenths on Andrea Dovizioso, Casey Stoner decides to carry out a new attack: taking the lead for a few meters, the Australian is immediately passed by the obstinate Valentino Rossi who will have replied with rare resentment and talent to each of the brilliant Australian’s attacks !

Would this desire have got the better of the concentration of the reigning world champion? Still, when braking the last left before the straight line of the pits, the rear of the Ducati sweeps the track from right to left and forces its rider to straighten out at the last minute so as not to embark Valentino Rossi! Casey Stoner goes to garden in the gravel but – second twist of the race! – in his haste, the 22-year-old pilot steers too sharply in the gravel and falls at low speed !

It is a new turning point in the race, even in the championship: Stoner has cracked under the pressure of Rossi, even if obviously the person concerned does not hear it that way: "Valentino braked a little earlier than usual at the last corner. I had to get around it and went off the track, then I made a mistake and lost the front (…). There are what are called tight overtaking, aggressive maneuvers and then behaviors that cross that line.", the Ducati rider said bitterly after the race…

"I’m sorry Casey thinks my maneuvers weren’t right, but I don’t agree with him", Rossi retorts:"I passed in front in the braking, I always brake in the same places and we did not touch each other. Obviously it was a tough race and I was quite aggressive, but while remaining fair play !"

Losing nearly sixteen seconds in his exit from the track, Casey Stoner nevertheless shows what wood a world champion is made of by leaving quickly, head in the handlebars, to at least try to save the points for second place: the two men with a significant gap over their rivals and the Ducati not being damaged, the Australian can continue to defend his chances !

25th round : The team of the seven-time world champion signals the Yamaha rider for the fall of his rival, but Rossi continues to send big gas: not only does he want to protect himself from any potential recovery of his opponent, but the Italian does not want to of a race without panache and tries to maintain its important gap on Stoner !

Just behind Chris Vermeulen, Andrea Dovizioso passed Nicky Hayden and even has a short lead over the double winner on this track! Randy de Puniet gradually returned to the two pilots and even if the junction is not yet within his reach, we can only congratulate the n ° 14 for not having, once too often, confused speed and haste. !

26th and 27th laps : Valentino Rossi still contains the comeback of Stoner, which now turns almost four tenths slower than the Italian. His fall calls for caution, but this reversal of scenario seems almost implausible as the Australian had dominated all the practice sessions…

Confirming the good health of the Yamaha on the American track, James Toseland still appears at an encouraging seventh place ahead of Shinya Nakano, Ben Spies, Toni Elias, James Hacking, Sylvain Guintoli, Alex de Angelis, Colin Edwards and Loris Capirossi.

28th, 29th and 30th laps : Braving his broken thumb, Alex de Angelis continues to push to try to get back on Sylvain Guintoli, less at ease than under the German deluge (read). A round across the Rhine which had seen Chris Vermeulen climb on the podium: the Australian should again this year climb on the American podium. For his part, Valentino Rossi rushes to his first victory at Laguna Seca !

Last round : It’s the excitement on the side of the box of the seven-time world champion: eyes riveted on the screen, manager, mechanics and managers of the team climb on the wall to greet their pilot, who goes standing by wheeling the line arrival! Stoner is also applauded by the Yamaha staff, then Chris Vermeulen crosses the line in front of Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden, Randy de Puniet, Toni Elias, Ben Spies, James Toseland, Shinya Nakano, James Hacking, Sylvain Guintoli, Alex de Angelis, Colin Edwards, Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri and Anthony West.

Valentino Rossi performs his lap of honor in a state of grace, the point raised and congratulating his M1! Aware of his performance, the Italian even went so far as to embrace the asphalt of the Cork Screw, then the first step of the podium which had been denied to him for several GPs. !

In the championship, the n ° 46 thus made an excellent operation: Pedrosa absent on this race, Rossi can go on vacation serene: with 212 points against 187 for Stoner, he has a lead of a Grand Prix on the Australian! The latter precedes Pedrosa by 16 points and relegates the fourth (Jorge Lorenzo) to 73 points! Dovizioso also had an excellent operation and saw his consistency rewarded with a nice 5th place overall ahead of Colin Edwards, Chris Vermeulen, Nicky Hayden, James Toseland, Shinya Nakano, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias, Alex de Angelis, Randy de Puniet and Sylvain Guintoli who returns to 15th.

They are explained:

Valentino Rossi (1st) : "It’s fantastic ! It’s my first time winning here and the race has been really amazing! My team made a few changes at the last moment which allowed me to go much faster. I got off to a good start, and then we had a good fight with Casey, I really enjoyed myself. It’s an important victory, with a lot of emotion, and now we can take advantage of the truce to rest, because the championship is very long"…

Casey Stoner (2nd) : "I made a mistake in the second half of the race: I started a little too wide and trying to re-establish the line I lost control of the front. After that the race was over … I really enjoyed the race, but I think some maneuvers weren’t very correct … I have been racing for many years and have driven in different categories, and for me some maneuvers were a bit limited today. I would have preferred to have had a more fair game, but we are still happy with our result. We’re still in the title race and we’re not that far !"

Chris Vermeulen (3rd) : "It was difficult to start from the third row and these two quickly got away. I had to fight Hayden and Dovizioso for a few laps, and once in front we were faster than the others. But those two were too fast for us today! This new podium in the dry proves that Suzuki is progressing, so I can’t wait to race in Brno !"

MotoGP Circus now allows itself a summer break of a few weeks, before meeting again on August 17 in Brno (Czech Republic). Until then, the news continues on the Moto Journal du net: stay tuned !

Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR

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